Returning Hope to Greece and Europe — With Your Help
In the course of just two years, DiEM25 has grown from a small group of activists into a 70,000-strong movement that is prepared to shake Europe. By our side: citizens, public figures, intellectuals and various political forces that have rallied around our Progressive Agenda for a Europe of the people, and who are ready to carry it forward with us.
This is a critical juncture in our story. Across Europe, DiEM25’s electoral wing — a historic transnational political force — is gaining strength, as we prepare for European Parliamentary elections next year. Now, we need your help to make sure we maintain momentum.
This week we received a remarkable offer from a DiEM25 member to match every donation — up to 15,000 € — to help us launch MeRA25, our political party in Greece. This means that if we can raise 15,000 € our generous DiEMer’s contribution will bring the total up to 30,000 €!
Our Greek DiEMers need our support to launch MeRA25: organise on the frontlines, hold events, knock on doors across the country and spread the word about the new political direction and sound policies that will return the spirit of the Greek Spring to the country that gave birth to it.
In 2015, the hopes of Europeans, and especially Greeks, for a transnational Europe of solidarity and mutual prosperity were betrayed. MeRA25 does not see this as a defeat; it was a set-back. And now, 3 years later, we return to reclaim our dream of a peoples’ Europe.
DiEM25 doesn’t owe anything to big banks, to campaign bundlers, or to lobbyists. The only people to whom we’re indebted is you. We are solely funded by individual contributions from our members and sympathisers.
Now is the time for bold action, and European citizens must prove that, as always, change will come from them. Join us as we set up our plan for democratising the EU and send us your generous contribution so we can match our donor’s funding offer!
Why should we care about care?
In her 2012 book of the same name, Katrine Marçal asks the seemingly frivolous question: Who cooked Adam Smith’s dinner? 1
Smith famously noted that it wasn’t ‘from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest’. In other words, the butcher only provided Smith with a nice juicy steak because there was something in it for himself. What’s missing from this story, however, is who prepared that steak.
As Marçal goes on to note, Adam Smith lived most of his adult life with his mother, so it’s fairly safe to assume that it was she who cooked his dinner. But this fact doesn’t feature in Smith’s theory because unpaid work, invariably performed by women, isn’t recognised in conventional economics in the same way that remunerated labour is. In fact, women are often completely absent from discourse about economic theory and practice.
In the EU today, 72% of men (aged 15-64) and 61% of women are in some kind of formal employment. This is the work that is recognised by the European Commission and by the OECD, and which is accounted for in GDP figures. But it’s been estimated that, every day, women in OECD countries perform a further 272 minutes of unpaid work (4.5hrs), compared with the 138 minutes (2.3hrs) performed by men.
Interestingly, men and women do perform almost identical amounts of work in general: 466 minutes (7.8hrs) and 487 minutes (8.1hrs) per day respectively. But, whereas 70% of a man’s work is formally recognised, only 44% of woman’s is.
So what is all this work that women are doing that isn’t being recognised, and why does it matter?
Cleaning, cooking and childcare are all time-intensive activities that require mental and physical effort but which are mostly unpaid and usually done by women. Additionally, in our aging society, care of elderly or disabled relatives often also falls to women. While paid activity has been cast as ‘masculine’ (‘being the breadwinner’), care work has become a ‘feminised’ domain, and feminised attributes have historically been undervalued.
Such work is part of the ‘care economy’, or ‘reproductive economy’ and it is vital for the functioning of capitalism. Globally, women are, on the whole, responsible for generating and nurturing (feeding, clothing, teaching) the future workforce, i.e. ‘reproducing’. Without this human capital, the system collapses. But there is no remuneration for producing and raising tomorrow’s factory workers, technicians or bankers; reproductive work is expected to be delivered for free.
This might all sound academic. Work is work regardless of who does it, and in an equal society, surely everything will come out in the wash. But there are very real impacts from the ‘invisibility’ of women’s labour.
The more time a woman spends on unpaid work, the more likely she is to be engaged in part-time or temporary paid work. Such work is often less skilled, low-income, casual and insecure. Analysis shows that, in countries where women perform twice as much caring work as men (for example Austria and the Netherlands), they earn just 65% of what their male counterparts earn for the same job. Many women, for whom care work is seen as their priority, are subject to ‘occupational downgrading’ in which they accept work that is below their skill level and with poorer working conditions. As a consequence, they have fewer opportunities to ascend to higher and management-level positions. This renders women vulnerable to financial insecurity and poverty. Women with no or few personal assets are at risk of exploitation and gender-based violence.
Finally, not being part of the labour market has an impact even once a woman has passed retirement age. In Germany, there has been great discussion about whether Hausfrauen (housewives) should automatically receive a pension.
And there are far more conventional concerns about the impact of ignoring unpaid work on the economy. If unpaid care work were included, the GDP per capita of Italy would increase from 56% of the US’s GDP to 79%. Such omissions result in a distorted picture of the material wellbeing of households and the wealth of societies as a whole.
Ideas like universal basic income or a basic dividend, as espoused in DiEM25’s New Deal, have the capacity to go some way to redressing the balance. By providing all citizens with a guaranteed income, women become less dependent on wage-earning partners, and, by potentially reducing the number of hours people have to work in the formal economy, responsibilities for care work may be better shared.
But currently our European New Deal makes no mention of unpaid labour, or indeed women. As a progressive movement, proposing some of the most radical and interesting ideas in Europe, DiEM25 must make greater efforts to call out gender-specific economic inequality. This cannot be a sop or a nod to feminist theory – DiEM25 must take gender into account at every level of its policy and decision-making. Our movement must assess the impacts of all its policy proposals on both men and women, and to ensure that gender is not regarded as a kind of ‘bolt-on’ to existing policy.
On a broader level, breaking down gender norms and recasting care work as the responsibility of both men and women will, ultimately, give some of humanity’s most important activities the value and status they deserve.
Kate is a member of DiEM25’s DSC Gender Equity 1. The thematic DSC on Gender Equity has recently been established to address issues relating to the care economy, women’s rights in Europe and gender balance within DiEM25 at all levels. If you would like to be involved in the thematic DSC, or for more information, please send us an e-mail.
Artwork: Wilfred Hildonen (DiEM25 Communications)
[1] Marçal, K. (2012), Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner?, Portobello Books.
The dark cloud over Serbian media — and its silver lining
Imagine a country with six TV stations that dedicate 80 percent of their election coverage to the ruling party, but virtually never in a negative context. A country where one man, the former Prime minister and current President, dictates the way editors create TV programs and the way journalists report the news. Where first six to 10 minutes — out of 30 — of prime time national television Radio Televizija Srbije are almost exclusively dedicated to said president. Imagine a country where a wide range of tabloid newspapers effectively ran by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) use all kinds of defamatory statements to discredit politicians of the opposition, calling them traitors, accusing them of being paid by “foreign destabilizing agencies.”
Now imagine this country in Europe. And imagine its authorities being strongly supported by the EU establishment and applauded for maintaining stability in the Balkans, diligently applying austerity measures, and selling formerly public companies to foreign investors while keeping minimum wages low in order to “create a better climate” for investments. Jean Claude Juncker wholeheartedly congratulated President Vučić on his electoral victory last April, which Vučić won under very dubious circumstances and which sparked a month of daily protests with 60 000 people to the streets. More recently, Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, gave Pythian answers to journalists’ questions about media freedom in Serbia, stating that “there is no perfect model, but one can really look in other countries using examples trying to improve the situation, but it’s an ongoing process”.
Finally, imagine a grassroots movement financed exclusively from citizens’ donations, campaigning to enter the City Council in Belgrade under these circumstances. This is the situation that Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own — together with DiEM25 activists in Belgrade — are facing.
The Initiative’s presentation on the RTS was almost banned due to unspecified “inappropriate content”. It was only after the news reached the very few independent media that the RTS allowed the video to be broadcasted. And this is but a one example of gross violations of rules on equal representation of all the electoral candidates.
This kind of media situation was, unfortunately, normalized by business-as-usual opposition parties — now running against the SNS — using familiar rhetoric of the lesser evil. The Initiative often suffers heavy blows the opposition, as well, accused of “taking away” votes from the establishment with little attention paid to the movement’s core claims or its members’ grievances.
In short, Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own is a challenger on a very uneven playing field. Consider the fact that there are 24 lists of candidates for representatives in the City Council — more than a half of which can be linked to the ruling party. This, naturally, creates confusion among citizens and diminishes the voices of genuine opposition.
But worry not: there is a silver lining. First of all, whatever the outcome of the elections might be, the Initiative has already shifted the discourse of the entire campaign. Trying to respond to the challenge of the new and progressive force, most of the opposition parties were forced to adopt a defense of public goods, protection of workers’ rights and pensions, and a challenge to privatization and public-private partnerships. Meanwhile, it pushed us to be more creative, bringing a Duckmobile to the streets of Belgrade — and bringing us closer to the people. Indeed, the media’s rejection of our movement drove us deep into the streets: to one-on-one conversations with citizens who feel empowered for the first time by our invitation to participate in their local politics. That is the tailwind that will push Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own to the City Council – one more step in the fight for our city.
Milena is a member of DiEM25 DSC Belgrade 1.
Laurent Wauquiez accuses Macron of setting up a “demolition cell”
Mark Twain once wrote: “If you must be indiscreet, be discreet in your indiscretion.” Alas, the French politician Laurent Wauquiez, head of the right-wing opposition party Republicans, failed to heed his advice after having been recorded making allegations of conspiracy against President Emmanuel Macron.
With no love lost between the right winger and the French centre-left President, Wauquiez told students at a business college in Lyon that Macron has “contributed substantially to setting up a demolition cell” to undermine Francois Fillon, the former Republican Prime Minister.
In a country where politicians’ personal indiscretions are as public as their policy achievements – cue Francois Hollande’s late night visits to his mistress – Wauquiez’s comments might appear perfectly French. But they reflect a much darker trend toward conspiracy among the European far right. Far right parties across the Continent have adopted a strategy of false allegations and fear mongering in order to stoke fires of suspicion among their base of support.
Diem25 is opposed to such divisive political strategies. While we diverge with Macron on many fundamental policy matters, we value truth, evidence, and respectful discourse in our movement. In a word, we cherish civil disobedience – a political mode that is both civil and disobedient. Join us in our movement to shake Europe.
Jane is a member of our London DSC and blogs at www.ambitiousmamas.co.uk on feminism, politics and race. You can also follow her on Twitter.
Photo: BERTRAND LANGLOIS AFP
DiEM25 calls for the immediate release of Saleh Muslim
On 25 February 2018, Reuters reported on the arrest of Rojavan foreign relations official Saleh Muslim by Czech authorities, acting under pressure from Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, who has requested Muslim’s extradition to Turkey.
Saleh Muslim was a leader of the 2012 Rojava revolution, during which Kurdish, Arab, Assyrians and other peoples of the region joined forces to declare the northern-part of Syria (West-Kurdistan) autonomous from the Assad regime. Since 2012, Rojavans have developed their own model of “stateless democracy”, based on principles of local self-governance, gender equality, secularism and communal economics.
The Rojavans stand at the forefront of the fight against the Islamic State, playing a fundamental role in the siege of Kobane, among other military operations again IS. Thousands of lives have been sacrificed by the People’s and Women’s Protection Units (YPG/J) in order to liberate territories in their journey toward Raqqa. In these territories, the YPG/J have introduced a new stateless democracy to promote a more durable peaceful cohabitation.
Today, the Rojavan canton Afrin is under ongoing attacks of the Erdoğan regime, which claims that Rojava is a “terrorist” network due to the inspiration it draws from Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This means that the new democracy of the Rojavans — the only actor in the Syrian civil war that abides by the Geneva conventions, and the only effective force fighting still today against the Islamic State — is threatened by the second biggest NATO ally.
DiEM25 calls to:
* Release Saleh Muslim immediately, and for EU member states to guarantee his protection and freedom of movement, rejecting any and all calls for extradition to Turkey
* Release the Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian activists, journalists, academics, artists, and politicians that have been imprisoned in Turkish jails without due trial
* End the Turkish siege of Rojava and stand with Rojava’s new democratic project, recognizing it as an ally and inspiration of democratic movements the world over
DiEM25 stands in solidarity with Rojava and the Kurdish struggle for democratic peace. In 2016, DiEM25 Coordinating Collective member and European Alternatives representative Lorenzo Marsili engaged in direct dialogue with Saleh Muslim and other representatives of the Rojava Revolution. During a more recent meeting in Berlin, DiEM25 members backed policy to build active relations and solidarity networks with Rojava.
About the Rojava Revolution Saleh Muslim has said: “It is a revolution of life, and as such, our struggle is a struggle for humanity.” It is time that humanity recognizes this effort, and for DiEM25 – as a transnational movement – to lead the way in durable European-Rojavan relations.
“Real” eurozone reforms – and why they miss the mark
Last month, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire announced that France and Germany want to make the eurozone shock-resistant and fit for long-term prosperity. Details should be rounded out by this spring. Officially the two countries wish to finalise the Banking Union, boost the integration of capital markets, and reach agreements on tax harmonisation. Less official, though, is the discussion of the broader integration of the eurozone. Italy and Spain have now joined the talks.
Recent attempts to rescue Italian and Spanish banks has revealed once more that the euro crisis could flare up at any moment. So far, the ECB has tried to ‘stabilise’ the monetary union with negative deposit interests and incredibly large monetary easing. But this won’t last, and it shouldn’t last – the strategy has recently come under fire even inside of the ECB. To stabilize the eurozone, Macron wants more risk-sharing: no banking union without a minimum of solidarity between euro zone states. On the short term he would like to see one common European budget of some hundreds of billions of euros per year and a European finance minister issuing common Euro debt bonds. Italy seems to be in favour. And Merkel has signalled that Macron’s plans can be discussed. Her new coalition considers an “investment budget” for the single currency bloc, a nod to Macron’s call for solidarity. Merkel’s plans for an investment budget include the current bailout mechanism (ESM) to be turned into a full-blown European Monetary Fund, under parliamentary control and anchored in EU law. Furthermore, Macron insists that politicians should take all final decisions in the EU, hinting that the European Commission should have less say.
A European Monetary Fund would come closer to DiEM25’s ideas, but not close enough for real change in the eurozone. At DiEM25, we are proposing to introduce new regulations for European banks and a new public digital payments platform that ends their monopoly over Europe’s. Our plan is not only progressive – it is also practical: it can be implemented tomorrow, as described in our European New Deal (END). The goal of these regulations, and the goal of the broader END, is to end austerity and create a European budget that allows for basic goods provision for every European. DiEM25 has also outlined concrete ideas on how to fund something like a European budget. In our END we propose an alliance between central banks and public investment banks. And we do not stop there: we have concrete proposals for turning idle wealth into green investment, which Europe desperately needs but the French and Germans have so far refused to consider. All of these changes require a new governance structure. Politicians must be responsible for European policy making. It is high time Europe’s macroeconomic management is democratised fully and placed under scrutiny of sovereign peoples. Here, too, DiEM25 has concrete details: See our European New Deal.
Want to help create a better Europe by next year? Vote for a DiEM25 party in your country in the elections for the European Parliament!
Niki is a member of DiEM25 NL.
Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
The EU is planning a radical overhaul of financial programme
The European Commission is planning an overhaul of its financial programme. A Eurozone budget of 25billion Euros is being planned to finance structural reforms. In addition, a ‘stabilisation function’ will be introduced to its financial package to be administered by a planned European Monetary Fund (EMF).
After coming under sustained criticism in recent years over its imposition of harsh austerity measures on countries like Greece after the 2008 financial crash, the Commission is hoping that the Eurozone budget and other measures like the proposed ‘stabilisation function’ and a European Monetary Fund will shore the union up to withstand any further shocks.
The ‘stabilisation function’ will act as a protector of investment spending by accessing the EU budget and the EMF to divert grants and loans to countries in need. The EMF will replace the European Stability Mechanism.
But there are significant tensions in the planning and implementation of the new budget. Many member states have not reached consensus on the direction of deeper integration within the Eurozone — and the appropriate distribution of funding across the region. It also plays into the hands of Brexiters and opponents of the European Union who claim that closer integration diminishes the sovereignty of national member states.
According to the Commission, these financial proposals will provide critical mass and avoid the financial burden falling on a few member states only. The structural reform is meant to focus on preparing European workers and welfare systems to cope with the growing digital revolution that requires new skills and changes the traditional ways of working.
At DiEM25, we have been fighting against the Eurozone’s inhumane and unproductive austerity policies. The new Eurozone budget presents a challenge as well as an opportunity — we must seize the reigns of Europe to make sure that no Eurozone nation is left behind in this new financial programme. Join us.
Jane is a member of our London DSC and blogs at www.ambitiousmamas.co.uk on feminism, politics and race. You can also follow her on Twitter.
A war on our values
Around the world, governments appear to be preparing for war. US president Donald Trump has boosted US army’s budget, while France’s Emmanuel Macron has pitched his visions of an EU army.
Most recently, defense ministers of France and Germany called for increase in military expenses and better coordination among EU countries on foreign policy. Their justification, according to the German defense minister, is that “Europe has to up its pace in the face of global challenges from terrorism, poverty and climate change“. It is hard to see the logic — and it is harder not to see the irony of making this pitch on the 15th anniversary of the great marches against the Iraq War.
At DiEM25, we believe that it is our responsibility to resist the shift toward militarism. To fight climate change, poverty and terrorism we do not need to increase our defenses, we do not need to make more bullets, we do not need to arm school teachers with guns.
Our response should not be more military interventions. Our response should be restoration of democracy and the generous empowerment of fair social services, not only in Europe but worldwide. To achieve this, join us here and let’s collectively develop and implement a progressive agenda for Europe.
Aris is a member and volunteer of the DiEM25 movement.
Far right lobby pushes for EU deregulation
A group of right-wing and libertarian groups in the United Kingdom are secretly planning to lobby Ministers for a free trade agreement with the USA that would lift a current ban on everyday essential items consisting of meat, chemicals and drugs.
Many Brexiters see the EU as over-regulated, compared to a much more liberalized set of standards in the United States. Were they to get their way, British regulators would allow chlorinated chicken and hormone-reared beef to be imported and sold in the UK for the first time.
Alarmingly, the plans call for the EU’s ‘Precautionary Principle’ — which places an onus on traders to prove that something is safe before it is sold — to be scrapped.
The plans came to light when these were mistakenly published online by the Initiative for Free Trade (IFT), which leads the group. The other members are the Heritage Foundation, keen to see repeal of environmental protections, and the Cato Institute, funded in part by the brothers Charles and David Koch — who are well known for their influence over the policy platform of the Republican Party.
From its founding, DiEM25 has argued against a deregulatory agenda that will lower the standard of living of people and lead to further inequality. We call on the people of Europe to join us in advocating for a new, progressive agenda that protects animals, workers, and the environment.
Jane is a member of our London DSC and blogs at www.ambitiousmamas.co.uk on feminism, politics and race. You can also follow her on Twitter.